09:23 AM EDT, 08/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were edging higher premarket Thursday as the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLE ) was up 0.1% recently.

The United States Oil Fund ( USO ) was 0.1% higher and the United States Natural Gas Fund ( UNG ) was down 3%.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.4% at $72.22 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil gained 0.4% to $76.37 per barrel. Natural gas futures were down 3.4% at $2.104 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

BW LPG ( BWLP ) shares were over 2% lower after it reported Q2 earnings of $0.58 per diluted share, down from $0.59 a year earlier. The company also lowered its Q2 cash dividend sequentially to $0.58 from $1 in Q1.

Ovintiv ( OVV ) is weighing a possible sale of its oil operations in the Uinta Basin in Utah for as much as $2 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Ovintiv ( OVV ) shares were up 0.7% premarket.

Ecopetrol ( EC ) shares were up almost 1% after saying it has received government authorization to enter a loan agreement, expected to be signed with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., for up to $250 million.